Sacred Objects and Sacred Places

Andrew Gulliford says at the outset that his is “a work of affirmation about the ways in which Native Americans have maintained their cultures against all odds.” He remarks that “the native peoples of America continue to teach the rest of us the valuable lessons they have learned from living on this continent for millennia.” These statements mark Sacred Objects and Sacred Places as a work of advocacy. For all of its grounding in bibliography and fieldwork—and the research is impressive— this is not a book of disinterested judgment, but rather an impassioned argument. He contends that contemporary Native Americans, threatened but resilient, are trying to preserve their tribal heritage. They seek to repatriate the many thousands of Indian skeletal remains and culturally significant Indian artifacts now held by museums across North America. They seek to maintain or regain stewardship over natural phenomena—particular places or landscapes, off reservations as well as on—that they deem sacred. They seek privacy in conducting their religious rituals, confidentiality in their decision making about heritage preservation, and autonomy in defining their identity

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Argument (complex analysis · Art · Autonomy · Cultural heritage · Environmental ethics · Ethnology · Identity (music · Odds · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Stewardship (theology · Anthropology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Law · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Philosophy